Basalt Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composites (BFRP) other than rebars: A review

Basalt Fibers (BF) have been increasingly used to produce various composite materials/products due to their many superior properties, such as being natural fiber, high resistance to many chemicals, good performance at higher temperatures, low hygroscopicity, competitive price, etc. Although they have been widely perceived as cheaper substitute for carbon fiber and sustainable/superior/equivalent substitute for glass fiber, they have also been used to produce entirely new products due to their special merits, such as heavy-duty products for high temperature and aggressive environments. BFs have been successfully combined with many different types of matrix materials, including polymers, cement and metal matrices, however this review covers only polymer matrix composites reinforced by BFs, except basalt rebars. Deploying BFs in composite manufacturing as much as possible can be extremely beneficial from sustainability point of view, at their manufacturing stage as well as after their useful life. This review classifies and discusses the academic literature on the topic and sums up promising recent research tracks in a list in the end. It intends to provide a concise guide for developing BFRPs as both standard and novel composite products for wider application areas by means of mapping the explored areas in the topic and highlighting possible research areas for researchers.